I had experimented with several types
of portable antennas for my 817 and had some success, however I wanted something
"cheap and dirty" and particularly easy. I have a full set of Hustler
resonators which I use in my mobile installation and those resonators sure looked like an
easy solution to my problem. I do more listening than I do transmitting so I just
wanted to be able to set something up without going to the hassle of 'stringing something
up.' I use an LDG Z-11 tuner attached to the 817 so my setup is shown in the
pictures. The same ideas can, however, be used with the single 817 although it will
require some different type of machining. I will discuss how I attach the
transceiver and tuner together later on in this piece.

The Hustler mast was, of course, out of the question
for my portable station so I constructed a short mast for the purpose. The mast is
made from a 19" piece of 1/2" PVC pipe. This particular length was nothing
special, it just happened to be a piece which was not too long and not too short for my
project and, best of all, it was available. This PVC is a thinner-walled version
than some and is marked on the side, "CRESLINE PVC - SDR 13.5 - PVC 1120 - 315
PSI PR WATER at 73 degrees F --------- Drinking Water -- ASTM D
2241......" I'm really not sure what some of the numbers mean but it wasn't
necessary for me to know.

The piece actually measures 1"
outside diameter but the key to its use was that the outside shell of a PL-259 force fits
inside the pipe very nicely. If you have difficulty in getting the PL-259
shell into the PVC pipe, try heating the PVC just a little. I used a butane torch
but the kitchen range burner would probably do the job about as well...... if you're
careful.

The other
end has a PVC endcap with the threaded bolt in it. The bolt needs to be a fine
thread type and is sold as a 3/8" x 1" and should be labeled as Fine Thread with
the matching nut. These are usually found a hardware stores like Lowe's and Home
Depot but are often not with the bulk coarser thread variety used in construction. I
suspect this allows them to charge more for them. The finer thread variety are
required to fit the end of the Hustler resonators.

When I built mine, I found a solder lug called a
"Ring Terminal" which fit the 3/8" bolt and I used some #14 bus wire to run
through the PVC pipe. I found it easiest to build the endcap/threaded bolt end first
and solder the bus wire on the lug, then clamp on the endcap to the pipe leaving the long
piece of wire sticking out the other end. The wire is threaded into the PL-259 piece
as the coax plug is inserted (jammed) into the other end. Once everything looks
correct, the bus wire can then be soldered onto the center pin of the plug with the excess
wire snipped off.

The mast allows any of the Hustler resonators to be
used for a portable antenna. With the PL-259 built into the bottom of the mast, a
right-angle coax fitting can easily be screwed in and attached to the back SO-239 coax
socket for the 817. One caution, however, but the mast/resonator is a long arm and
if the transceiver is bumped or moved the whole thing swivels one way or the other and is
no longer a vertical piece. I found it not uncommon for the mast to swivel and whack
me or someone else close or to break something innocently sitting nearby. To
alleviate this problem, I built the mast holder discussed below.

The No-Pull Power Adapter

The coaxial power jack seems to be one of the 817's
weak points and numerous letters in the various Reflectors discuss problems other users
had. I could see that this could cause a problem on my unit so I constructed a piece
to firmly attach the coaxial power plug to the transceiver. It has worked superbly
for me for many months.

Click on any of the

pictures for a larger

usually version.

The pictures above should pretty much tell the
story. The small L-shaped bracket is built from 3/4" aluminum bracket material
which is available from many hardware stores and usually comes in 6-foot sticks. It
is available in various thickness' but this bracket is made from 1/16" stock. I
cut mine to 1 1/4" width. The bracket is attached to the transceiver using the
screw already conveniently located about 3/4" under the power jack. The
hold-down piece I used was from the junkbox but almost anything would work to keep the
power plug from wiggling around or coming out. It's a one-screw out operation if I
want to remove the bracket.

The Mast Holder

I struggled over trying to find something to
stabilize the mast for quite some time. What I finally decided upon was a U-shaped
(square corners) aluminum piece which attached to the No-Pull Power Adapter bracket shown
above.

Click on any of the pictures for a larger version

The mast holder bracket is built from a
piece of 1" square aluminum tubing which is found at most hardware
stores. To remove one side of the square, I used an electric rotary blade chop
saw. By carefully chucking up the piece in the saw I was able to totally remove the
one face and then, using a file, smooth up the edges. All in all I was pleasantly
surprised with the results and very pleased.

The U-shaped piece was
attached to the No-Pull Power Adapter bracket using a piece of scrap 1" x 1/8"
aluminum L-shaped material which was scrap. I used 1/8" material, although the
1/16" would have probably been strong enough. I used what I had but if you're
buying for this project, I'd go with the thicker material. I have found that having
various pieces and shapes of this aluminum material around, I am constantly finding
something I can use it for. I try to keep the L-shaped pieces in various widths and
thickness', the flat pieces (also of various widths and thickness'), as well as several
assorted pieces of the square tubing.

As
shown in the pictures, the mast holder bracket fits snugly around the PVC pipe and holds
it from falling over. The presence of the aluminum piece so close to the actual
antenna (the wire piece inside the PVC) should not be a problem because this should be a a
low-voltage point on the antenna and should make little difference.

Firmly tying the 817 and Z-11
together

I tried several things to tie together my FT-817 and
a tuner. I had previously used an MFJ-901B Versa Tuner and it fit below the 817
perfectly, although it was thicker than my present Z-11 tuner. At that time I only
used one strap and it was not quite as secure.

When I recently got my Z-11 I had to construct a
smaller strap so I chose to try two instead of one and that has worked beautifully.
The straps are made of 1" black webbing material which I found at the Army-Navy
Surplus store. This store also carried several varieties of snap-together clamps and
I chose the ones you see in the pictures. I did find a couple of clamps at the local
Wal-Mart but I liked the size and selection I found at the Surplus store much better.

The straps each have 2 1/2" to 3 1/2" of
overlap webbing material and where they overlapped, I used SuperGlue and a heavy-duty
wooden carpentry clamp to apply pressure while the glue dried. With several straps
I've built this way I have never had one even remotely look like it was trying to come
loose. The determination of where to put the overlap to have a tight strap is done
experimentally. My straps are built so that it takes quite a bit of
"oooomph" to clamp them together but they hold the units securely with no
movement. I place both my straps near the back of the pair so as not to cover the
mike/earphone jacks or to cover the speaker grill.

Click on any of the pictures for a larger version

I also have placed some sponge rubber material
between the two units to protect the surfaces. I suppose there are many things which
would work but for me, I cut up and used an old dead mouse pad. Surely everyone has
one or two of those kicking around.

Attaching a Carrying Strap

Of course, the FT-817
came with a carrying strap which was very convenient but I wanted to be able to quickly
and easily attach or remove my strap. To do this I found some snap connectors which
could attach onto D-rings on the side of the transceiver. I looked for quite some
time to find just what I needed and it arrived in a strange place to look. The
leather straps which attach to the transceiver body which hold the D-rings came from a
cheap purse-like device which I found for 25 cents at a yard sale. This was after
doing all sorts of mental gymnastics to invent something which might work. The
picture show what I came up with and it has been very satisfactory for over a year.
Don't overlook yard or garage sales when you're looking for some strange items. It
might just be there waiting for you and for the price of a song.